Gemotions

The email sat in David's inbox, the subject line a brutal punch to the gut: "Plagiarism Allegation." He hadn’t touched his coffee all morning. He thought about deleting it, but the red dot signifying an unread message glared back at him. It was a digital stain. He felt a profound sense of isolation.

He wanted to scream, to lash out, to somehow explain the circumstances that had led to this. Instead, he just stared out the window at the vibrant campus, the carefree students, a world now completely separate from his own.

He found himself wandering the library, unable to concentrate, the books on the shelves mocking him with their wisdom and his own inadequacy. He left without taking a single one.